


Winter High, Winter Low

by carefulren



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Blizzards & Snowstorms, Fever, M/M, Sick Character, Sickfic, and this was supposed to be short, and yea, happy holidays from me, i'm not good at short, okay so i wanted to write myself another vld sickfick
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-24
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-09-11 15:36:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8996581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carefulren/pseuds/carefulren
Summary: Lance and Keith both live in the same shitty apartment complex. With a massive blizzard roaring outside and no power, Keith has to take care of an incredibly sick Lance.





	

The four-floor apartment complex was the oldest in the town; however, the age was reflected in the price, so Lance could look past the rickety windows barely closed by half-broken clasps, the dusty stairs that creaked with every other step, and the sporadic power outages if it meant he didn’t have to worry about not having enough money for food each month. He was a college student- he took what he could get.

 

Living on the fourth floor had its ups and downs. The walk up the “stairs of death”- as Hunk liked to say- wasn’t all that pleasant, but because of that, Lance was the only fourth floor resident, and he enjoyed the privacy. However, he spent most of his time in room 205- Keith’s room.

 

When it came down to apartment shopping, Keith had the same idea as Lance- only, he didn’t know that Lance was already living in the cheap apartment complex. Shiro had tried to talk him out of it, claiming that he could handle the bills if Keith was struggling, but Keith wanted to do this on his own. He bumped into Lance on the stairs on the day he was moving in, and Lance helped him get settled all while telling him to be weary of the old man in room 301 and to invest in as many surge protectors as possible.

 

On weekends, either Hunk, Pidge, and Shiro would come visit or Keith and Lance would carpool to Shiro’s apartment; however, they had agreed to postpone their weekly hangout this week because the weather had been calling for a massive blizzard that would probably leave the entire city indoors for a good two days.

 

Lance figured he would be bored out of his mind, but he had promptly invited himself over to Keith’s room for a movie night despite Keith’s protests that he should be in bed resting his cold off. Lance had waved off Keith’s concern, telling him it was a microscopic cold and that he felt fine albeit annoyed at the occasional sneezing.

 

When the time came, Lance carefully made his way down to Keith’s floor with a twelve-pack of soda and four movies ranging from Disney to horror. When he reached Keith’s room, he knocked on the door with his foot while he scrunched his face up at the tickling sensation shooting throughout his nose. He turned his face away to sneeze into his shoulder just as Keith pulled the door open.

 

“Lance…” Keith muttered, eying his friend with growing concern, but Lance waved his hand as he sniffed.

 

“I’m fine, Keith. It was just shit timing,” Lance said, stepping around Keith to enter the apartment. “That was only, like, the third time I sneezed today.”

 

Lance moved to put the movies on the coffee table- only to be stopped by a cool hand pressing against his forehead. “Keith,” he groaned, shifting his eyes towards his friend.

 

“Well, you aren’t feverish,” Keith said quietly.

 

“That’s because I’m fine,” Lance spit out. “I told you. It’s just a small cold.” He maneuvered around Keith to flop down on the couch, propping his feet up on the coffee table and rubbing the back of his hand against his nose.

 

“You should still be in bed resting,” Keith replied with narrow eyes.  

 

“I am resting, though!” Lance gestured to his casual position. “I’m not doing any physical activity; therefore, I am resting.” He matched Keith’s expression, smiling to himself as Keith finally broke the gaze.

 

“If you say so,” Keith grumbled before bringing out the pizza box he had ordered before Lance came over. He picked one of the movies Lance brought- a Disney one- and popped it into his PS4 before settling onto the couch beside Lance.

 

*****

 

“It’s really bad out there,” Keith muttered as he stared outside the rattling window with his arms crossed. The storm had gotten progressively worse as the time went on, and Keith had found himself relieved that they decided to cancel their weekly meetup. There was no way he and Lance would have made it back. He glanced back at Lance lying on the couch fiddling with his phone. “How are you feeling?”

 

Lance sighed, shifting his eyes from his phone to Keith. To be honest, he had started feeling worse as the night went on. The light throbbing in his head had progressed into a full-blown headache that was making it hard to concentrate, and he was pretty sure he was running a fever because he felt cold despite the warmth of Keith’s apartment. His limbs felt heavy and even the slightest movement felt as if it was taking mass amounts of energy. He was starting to realize that he may have severely underestimated this cold; however, he was not lying when he had said that he was feeling fine earlier. He wasn’t expecting it to get worse, but now he was silently regretting not taking any medicine for it.

 

“Fine,” he muttered through a yawn. God, he was tired. They had made it through two of the four movies, and it was approaching one a.m. He pushed himself up on shaking legs but played it off by grumbling that his legs were asleep. He didn’t need to burden Keith; he would be fine. He just needed to get back to his apartment and take some medicine. He’d be okay in the morning.

 

“You sound congested,” Keith noted, making a beeline for Lance. Now that he took the time to really look, Lance’s normally tan complexion looked pale and washed out, and he hadn’t missed the way Lance would occasionally rub his temples during the movie or the way he would turn to cough or sneeze every so often.

 

Lance turned before Keith could feel his forehead. “I’m good, dude,” he said while tossing his arms above his head to stretch. “I’m just going to go ahead back to my apartment. I’m beat.”

 

Keith followed closely behind Lance as Lance headed towards the door. “You will call me if you need something, right?” Keith questioned as Lance pulled the door open.

 

Lance sighed before turning to face Keith. He knew that his friend meant well, but no. He wasn’t going to call Keith. He was an adult and could handle this himself. “I’ll be fine, but if I absolutely have to, I will.” Not, he said in his head as he exited the apartment.

 

“Feel better, Lance,” Keith called out, watching Lance start towards the stairs with worried eyes. His friend really didn’t look good, but Keith knew that Lance wasn’t a fan of being babied. He trusted that if Lance really needed him, he would call.

 

Closing his door, Keith bypassed cleaning up the mess he and Lance made to just go to bed. He told himself he would just clean it up in the morning since he was going to be stuck in this building anyway.

 

*****

 

Lance barely made it to his apartment- he was sure he was just going to die on the stairs. He didn’t understand how he got so bad so fast. He was fine earlier for fuck’s sake, and now he felt like death warmed over. He slipped his shoes off, staggering towards his bedroom. He fell face first onto his bed and lied there, groaning into his mattress until a loud banging sound had him rolling onto his back and jolting upright.

 

“What the fuck,” he muttered as he started towards the living room. Upon opening his bedroom door, he was met with frigid wind rushing in through the wide open window. “Fuck,” he groaned out through chattering teeth as he started towards the window. He felt his body growing heavier with each step, and he briefly panicked at the dark spots dancing around the room before he felt himself falling forward as everything went black.

 

*****

 

Keith was pulled from sleep by a chill creeping around the room. He sat up slowly, squinting at the darkness before shifting around to turn on his bedside lamp- only to groan when he realized it wasn’t turning on. The power was out. He was stuck in an old apartment building during a blizzard with no power.

 

He fell back against his pillow, draping his arm over his eyes. This was just perfect. He was hating this damn old building more and more each day. Honestly, he had no idea how Lance could put up with it.

 

Wait…

 

Keith jolted into a sitting position, reaching blindly for his phone. He breathed out a small sigh of relief upon seeing that he still had a decent charge before pressing Lance’s speed dial number. His brows furrowed when the phone went straight to voicemail. He thought about it for a moment before hopping out of his bed. He figured Lance was fine and probably just forgot to charge his phone before the power went out, but he wanted to make sure.

 

He swiped to his flashlight app before making his way quickly out of his apartment. He took the stairs two at a time until he reached the fourth floor. When he got to Lance’s door, he frowned at the frigid, gusty air seeping out from the crack at the bottom of the door.

 

Silently thanking Lance’s absurd reasoning on why he doesn’t need to lock his apartment door, Keith twisted the door knob and grew even more concerned when he had to shoulder the door to get it open.

 

He breathed in a sharp hiss at the icy air that whipped at his face. His eyes darted to the window, and he staggered towards it, struggling for a few moments before he was finally able to get the window closed and latched.

 

Shuddering from his bare feet making contact with something wet and cold, he shined his flashlight app down to see snow and ice covering the carpet. He thought about how that was going to be a bitch to get cleaned, but his thoughts were interrupted by a harsh coughing sound coming from close behind him. He spun around- eyes widening as they fell onto a trembling figure lying on the floor.

 

“Lance?” Keith called out cautiously as he started towards the figure. When he got closer, he let out a string of curses at the sight before him. Lance was lying on the floor curled up in a tight ball as strong shivers wracked his slender frame.

 

Keith closed the distance quickly, dropping to his knees beside Lance. He took in the deep red flush spread across Lance’s cheeks, and he reached out to confirm what he was already thinking- Lance was burning. He shook Lance’s shoulders, wincing at the cold, drenched fabric of Lance’s shirt, until Lance groaned.

 

“Lance, can you hear me?” Keith asked as he guided Lance into a sitting position.

 

“K-Keith?”

 

Keith’s arm tightened around Lance’s shoulders. “Yeah. Why are you on the floor? Why was your window open? You are soaked, Lance. What’s going on?”  

 

Lance curled further into Keith’s side, soaking in the warmth of Keith’s body heat. “D-don’t know,” he said through chattering teeth. He tried to remember, but the hammering in his head was keeping him from thinking deeply. He felt his chest tightening and quickly shoved away from Keith as a coughing fit wracked his body.

 

Keith watched with concern- hand resting on Lance’s trembling back. He gnawed at his bottom lip, contemplating a plan of action. “Okay,” he said aloud as Lance caught his breath. He got to his feet. “We are going to back to my apartment, okay? The power’s out, so it will be cold, but it will be a lot warmer than in here.”

 

Lance swayed as Keith pulled him to his feet, but Keith was quick to wrap a steady arm around his waist. “We will take it slow, okay?” Keith said lowly as he started to lead Lance out of the apartment.

 

Lance could only nod in response. He honestly couldn’t get his mind wrapped around much. All he knew was that he was wet and freezing, his head was pounding, his chest felt tight, and his throat was incredibly sore. He kind of wanted to die, and he wasn’t too confident that he wouldn’t, but going with Keith seemed like the best option of survival.  

 

The trip down to the second floor took longer than Keith expected. Lance stopped every few seconds to double over in harsh coughing fits that had Keith’s concern shooting through the roof. He remembered that Lance wasn’t looking so hot when they had parted ways a few hours before, but he never thought it would get this bad. Lance could have pneumonia for all he knew, and they were going to be trapped in this building for at least two days- if not more. Needless to say, he was deeply worried, and he made a mental note to call Shiro once he got Lance settled.

 

Keith had broken out into a light sweat by the time he got Lance changed into dry clothes and into bed, but he noted with furrowed brows that despite the strenuous activity of getting down the stairs, Lance still shivered as if he was submerged in ice.

 

Keith stumbled blindly into his bathroom, feeling around until he located his thermometer. He made his way back to his bedroom where he had buried Lance under four blankets.

 

He pressed Shiro’s speed dial, balancing his phone between his shoulder and ear while coaxing Lance to open his mouth for the thermometer. He breathed out a soft sigh as Shiro picked up on the third ring.

 

_“Keith? Are you alright?”_

Keith grabbed the thermometer out of Lance’s mouth as the device beeped. “Fuck,” he cursed quietly at the 103.7 degree Fahrenheit reading.

 

_“Keith. What is going on?”_

“It’s Lance. Our power went out, and I went to check on him and found him lying on the floor in his living room with the window wide open. I don’t know how long he was there, but he’s running a really high fever. I don’t know what to do, Shiro.”

 

Keith breathed out a shaky breath as he listened to the rustling sounds coming from Shiro on the phone. “Shiro?”

 

_“I’m coming. It might take a bit, but-”_

“Woah, Shiro! Wait! You can’t go out there!”

 

_“I’ll be fine.”_

Keith opened his mouth to protest once more but had the phone snatched out of his hand by Lance. “Lance?”

 

Lance had pushed himself up into a sitting position on trembling arms. He took a second to catch his breath before pressing the phone to his ear. “Shiro.”

 

_“Lance! You sound terrible!”_

“Shiro, you cannot go out there right now. It’s too dangerous. You aren’t risking your life for me.”

 

Keith stared with raised brows at the power emitting from Lance’s tone. He could only guess how bad Lance was feeling, so he was finding himself rather impressed that Lance was able to steady his voice right now.

 

_“Lance, it’s-”_

“No, Shiro.” Lance interrupted before turning away from the phone to cough. “I’m sick. It happens. Keith is here.” Lance paused, meeting Keith’s eyes. “I trust him, and I know he will take care of me. As soon as we can, we will go to the doctor.”

 

Keith could see that what little energy Lance had mustered up was draining, and he gently took the phone back from Lance, offering a small nod at Lance’s thankful expression.

 

“He’s right, Shiro. It’s not going to do Lance any good if he can’t rest because he’s up and worrying about you.”

 

_“I don’t like this, Keith.”_

Keith watched as Lance rolled onto his side, drawing his knees up to his chest as the shivers wracking his body picked up in intensity. “I don’t either,” he muttered into the phone. “But, you really can’t go out there, Shiro.” He listened to the sigh on the other line followed by a brief moment of silence.

 

_“Keep me updated. Keep Lance warm and hydrated. Try to get any kind of fever reducer into him, and if you can, try to get him to eat something light- even if just a little bit. He will need it.”_

Keith knew all of this already, but he also knew that it probably made Shiro feel better to say this out loud. He told Shiro ‘okay’ and the two said their goodbyes. Keith glanced at Lance and figured food was out of the question for right now, so he turned his flashlight app back on and ventured out to find medicine.

 

*****

 

Three hours later and Lance finally seemed like he was in a remotely comfortable sleep. Keith had managed to wake him enough to give him some medicine and get him to drink a full cup of water before Lance had fallen into a fitful sleep. Keith had spent the time smoothing a damp cloth over Lance’s forehead until Lance’s expression had finally relaxed and the shivers had eased some.

 

Keith’s phone was seven percent away from dying, but he had managed to keep Shiro updated. The last text was sent forty minutes ago when Keith checked Lance’s temperature to see that it had dropped some. It was nowhere near what it should be, but Shiro had assured him that any drop was a good sign.

 

The time on his phone read 6:14 a.m., and Keith was exhausted and cold. He had given Lance every blanket he owned, but he wasn’t about to take any away now that Lance seemed somewhat comfortable. He sighed, pulling his knees up to his chest and dropping his head atop his knees. He closed his eyes, telling himself to not go completely asleep. 

 

Ten minutes past before Keith was brought back to by shifting from the bed. He watched with tired eyes as Lance blinked his eyes a few times before glancing around to lock onto Keith’s.

 

“Keith…” Lance took in the dark bags under Keith’s eyes and the small shivers taking over his friend’s body.

 

“Hey, how are you feeling?” Keith dropped his feet to the floor and leaned forward to brush the back of his hand against Lance’s forehead- still too hot to the touch, not that he expected any less.

 

“You need sleep, Keith,” Lance rasped out, wincing at his throat. He watched his friend lean back in the chair.

 

“No, I need to make sure you don’t die,” Keith muttered, standing and reaching for the empty glass on his bedside table. He turned to go refill the cup but was stopped by a trembling hand latching onto his wrist. He looked over his shoulder at Lance with worry-filled eyes.

 

“You. Need. Sleep.” Lance tightened his grip on Keith’s wrist and started pulling him towards the bed.

 

“You are probably going to wind up in the hospital in a couple of days, and you are worried about me?” Keith laughed tiredly as he studied Lance’s stern look.

 

Lance let go of Keith’s wrist and pat the empty space on the bed beside him.

 

Keith opened his mouth to protest, but Lance held up a hand to cut him off.

 

“Listen. I’m worried what will happen if you don’t sleep soon. You look exhausted, and you are shivering.” He paused to cough harshly into his fist. “This is your bed,” he continued after a few moments. “Just come get even a few hours of sleep, Keith. What good will it be if you wind up sick, too?”

 

Keith sighed. Lance wasn’t wrong- he had a way of doing that a lot. Maybe it would be for the best. If he was in the bed with Lance, he would be able to feel if Lance got worse while they slept. After a few more moments, he nodded and made his way to the other side of the bed.

 

Lance pushed the mountain of blankets back so Keith could climb into bed and quickly covered them both when Keith got settled.

 

“This doesn’t mean anything,” Keith muttered despite gravitating towards Lance’s overly warm body.

 

“Shut up, Keith,” Lance grumbled, smiling lightly to himself when he felt Keith’s arm drape across his waist.

**Author's Note:**

> Damn, Ky. Back at it again with the Voltron Sickfics. 
> 
> Happy Holidays everyone :)


End file.
